The Influence of Hippotherapy for Children With Special Needs and the Need of Hippotherapy for Parents.

Object of work: influence of hippotherapy – the aim of the paper is to investigate the influence of hippotherapy for children with special needs and to find out the need of hippotherapy for parents raising child with disability. Tasks of work: 1. To reveal the gist of hippotherapy from a theoretical perspective, to investigate common indications of hippotherapy for people with disabilities; 2. To reveal the parents' perspective on hippotherapy by analyzing the data obtained; 3. To evaluate the results of the changes in the gross motor function of people with disabilities before and after the hippotherapy sessions; 4. To evaluate the motivation of people with disabilities during each hippotherapy session. Research methodology: the study consisted of several steps. The first part of the study included a questionnaire for parents and the aim was to find out the need of hippotherapy for parents raising child with disability. The second part of the study consisted of testing, the tests were adapted for disabled people. The purpose of the tests were to evaluate the gross motors function of people. Motivation was also assessed during each hippotherapy session. Results: 1. Summarizing the research done in foreign and Lithuanian scientific literature it can be stated that equine-assisted interventions can benefit children and adults. Hippotherapy has the potential to improve the physical and emotional state of disabled people as wel as contributes to the process of socialization, self-expression that improves the quality of life of the whole family. 2. When analyzing the data of the questionnaire for parents of disabled children, the answers differed between parents who grow older children (21 and over) and those who grow minors (under 21 years of age). Parents of younger children are more interested in innovations, as well as in the application of various therapies (including hippotherapy) for their children. Older parents spend less time with their children, and most are reluctantly looking at hippotherapy, are not sure if they use this therapy for their children even if it is free or partly funded. 3. Assessing the outcome of a gross motor function change before and after the hippotherapy sessions, it can be assumed that the hippotherapy sessions contributed to the improvement. The results of all tests, calculated in total for both groups, have improved, even very slightly. 4. In assessing the motivation of people during each session, the results were evident and each time the motivation was increasing, disabled people were more and more willing to participate in the classes. This shows that the horse is a great motivator that can engage people with disabilities in various activities (horse riding, horse dressing, combing, feeding, learning different things on horseback riding)

Influence of extruded rapeseeds and faba beans mixture on rumen fluid parameters of dairy cows’

The study was conducted to evaluate the influence of extruded rapeseeds (70 %) and faba beans (30%) mixture for dairy cows on fermentation processes of rumen fluid. 20 holsteinizated Lithuanian cows of black-and-white breed of II-IV lactation were selected and divided in to two groups (10 cows for each) for this study applying the principle of analogous groups. pH, total volatile fatty acid (VFA), fluid of total and ammonia nitrogen were investigated during the whole experimental period. The investigation showed no crucial influence of the extruded rapeseeds and faba beans mixture on microbiological and biochemical indicators. Introduction Today the most important task for the dairy farming is to get cost-effective production of high quality. The cellulose is broken down to glucose and sugar in rumen, so carbohydrates are necessary for bacteria growth and protein synthesis (Nocek and Tamminga, 1991). The optimal ruminal pH of dairy cows is 6.3-6.8. When it drops below 6.0, the growth rate of anaerobic fungi and protozoa is decreased. If pH is lower than 5.5, protozoa die and activity of ruminal bacteria become destabilized (Sederevicius et al., 2001). Due to their great number and mobility, protozoa mix and loosen the fluid of a rumen which results in greater surface area of the forage and better conditions for activities of bacteria and enzymes. Protozoa accumulate reserved polysaccharides which are not only vital for their own life but are also important to the cattle nutrition. Protozoa actively break down cellulose, hemicellulose, and starch, and participate in the digestive processes in the rumen (Karim and Santra, 2002).Volatile fatty acids are the main energy source for cows that provide approximately 70 % of energy and consist in the rumen during fermentation. During presence [...]